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Recently my friend and colleague, Larry Hurtado (Univ of Edinburgh), addressed the question whether it is possible to be a Christian and a scholar in a brief video sponsored by the University of Edinburgh. It is only 3 minutes in length and worth watching. Here is a link:

No one comes to a discipline from no perspective at all. Everyone, whether Jew, Christian, Muslim, or “none” approaches a set of data or texts with assumptions which some scholars refer to as “pre-understanding.” It is important to recognize what our pre-understandings are and to recognize when and how our pre-understandings enter into disciplines. If they cause us to mis-read the texts or over-read the data, then we need to recognize or rethink those positions.

There are no points of neutrality. Objectivity is a myth. Anyone who claims to be operating from some mythical, neutral spot or complete objectivity should not be taken more seriously than one who recognizes their biases. You can clearly see my bias here. A bias is not necessarily wrong.